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January 21, 2019

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FunnyJunk, LLC vs. TheOatmeal.com

NOTE: The information and commentary contained in this database entry are based on court filings and other informational sources that may contain unproven allegations made by the parties. The truthfulness and accuracy of such information is likely to be in dispute. Information contained in this entry is current as of the last event mentioned in the "Description" section below; additional proceedings might have taken place in this matter since this event.

Submitted by DMLP Staff on Fri, 07/20/2012 - 15:57

Summary

Threat Type:

Correspondence

Date:

06/02/2012

Status:

Pending

Location:

Washington

Verdict or Settlement Amount:

N/A

Legal Claims:

Defamation

False Advertising

On June 2, 2012, attorney Charles Carreon sent a letter on behalf of FunnyJunk, LLC ("FunnyJunk") to Matthew Inman, creator of TheOatmeal.com, which threatened legal action on the basis of a May 2011 blog post by Inman titled "... read full description

Parties

Party Receiving Legal Threat:

TheOatmeal.com, Matthew Inman

Type of Party:

Organization

Type of Party:

Individual

Organization

Location of Party:

Nevada

Location of Party:

Washington

Legal Counsel:

Charles Carreon

Legal Counsel:

Venkat Balasubramani

Description

On June 2, 2012, attorney Charles Carreon sent a letter on behalf of FunnyJunk, LLC ("FunnyJunk") to Matthew Inman, creator of TheOatmeal.com, which threatened legal action on the basis of a May 2011 blog post by Inman titled "What should I do about FunnyJunk.com?".

In the post, Inman stated that he had discovered a number of his comics displayed without permission or attribution on FunnyJunk, and that he contacted FunnyJunk by email in an attempt to have them removed from the site. He claimed that FunnyJunk took down the images that were identified in the email, but that FunnyJunk had since "practically stolen [his] entire website and mirrored it on FunnyJunk." The post included screen shots of Inman's comics on FunnyJunk.com, and links to FunnyJunk image boards containing his work (as well as that of other artists that Inman alleged had been republished without permission).

A few days later, Inman posted an update that indicated FunnyJunk had removed some, but not all, of the content at issue.

The June 2 letter from FunnyJunk included a copy of Inman's original post, and alleged that statements made therein constituted a false accusation of willful copyright infringement. Thus, it stated, Inman "exposed [himself] to a lawsuit for defamation per se, in which damages are presumed." The letter also alleged that Inman had engaged in false advertising in violation of the Lanham Act. It concluded by demanding the immediate removal of all mentions of FunnyJunk from TheOatmeal.com and the payment of $20,000.

On June 11, 2012, Inman formally responded to the June 2 letter through his attorney, Venkat Balasubramani. The response letter denied FunnyJunk's claims that the original post was defamatory and constituted a violation of the Lanham Act. The response letter pointed out that FunnyJunk did not appear to have filed a notice of designation naming an agent as required of service providers who seek to rely on the Digital Milennium Copyright Act, placing FunnyJunk in a position where it might be held responsible for third-party infringements.

On June 12, 2012, Inman issued an informal response to the letter in a post entitled "FunnyJunk is threatening to file a federal lawsuit against me unless I pay $20,000 in damages," published on TheOatmeal.com. Inman included an annotated copy of the June 2 letter, and proposed that he would raise $20,000 in donations and donate the money to two charitable organizations: the National Wildlife Federation, and the American Cancer Society. A link was provided to the fundraising website Indiegogo.com.

On June 15, 2012, Carreon filed a lawsuit in his own name against Inman, Indiegogo, Inc., the American Cancer Society, the National Wildlife Federation and 100 anonymous Internet users for their role in the fundraising effort. As of July 20, 2012, no further action appears to have been taken by FunnyJunk.

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